Holden won’t be sold, at least not now; MD

The chairman and managing director of car maker GM Holden, Mark Reuss, says Holden will not be sold, at least in the near term.

Holden’s United States parent company, General Motors, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States last week.

“It (Holden) will not be sold,” Mr Reuss told the ABC’s Inside Business program on Sunday.

“I can’t say forever because some day when I’m not here, and more perhaps when someone may have that idea, but we have not been approached, nor have we been offered, nor are we pursuing any sale of Holden.”

Mr Reuss said it was not a case of there being no potential buyers for Holden, which made a profit last month.

“I think this is a very closely held asset,” he told the ABC program.

“This is one of the iconic brands in Australia, and I think it always will be as long as we take care of it and feed it with the products and the different dealer services that we do today, which are very good.”

Mr Reuss said earlier in June that Holden would remain unchanged by General Motors’ filing for bankruptcy protection, which was the biggest bankruptcy application in US history.

He had said that Holden would join the New GM – a more efficient company comprising GM’s best brands – to be launched in the US, and would concentrate on manufacturing a four-cylinder car in Adelaide from 2010, improving technology across the popular Commodore range and launching its Cruze model.

Holden employs more than 6000 people in Australia, including 3100 in South Australia with the balance spread across other states, particularly Victoria.